1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to executing a voice call from one of a fixed phone and a cellular phone.
2. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.
These developments have led to an increase in cellular phone ownership worldwide and a related demand for ease of cellular phone ownership—including when used at home. For example, by nature of their portability, cellular phones are typically smaller than home phones and are not tethered to a portion of a traditional landline phone, or “fixed phone.” These characteristics of cellular phones vis-à-vis traditional fixed home phones make cellular phones susceptible to being temporarily lost or misplaced, for example, in crevices in a recliners and couches or under desktop items. This can lead to missed incoming phone calls due to muffled ringtones or inaudible and intangible cell phone vibration. In many instances, however, though an incoming call on a cellular phone may be easily missed if the cell phone is misplaced at home, these same homes often have traditional fixed phones available that are immobile and sufficiently loud to alert a user of an incoming call on the landline. Methods for utilizing such fixed phones to ring in place of, or concurrent with, the misplaced cell phone and for executing the incoming call with the caller using the fixed phone would be advantageous for overall user experience.